Roman imperial cult

The Roman imperial cult was a way the Romans showed respect and honor to their emperors. They believed that emperors and some of their family members had special, divine power that helped protect Rome. This idea started during the time of Augustus, the first emperor, and quickly spread throughout the entire Empire.

Augustus changed Rome’s government from a republic to something closer to a monarchy, but he used old Roman traditions to make it seem natural. As emperor, he had to keep everyone happy—the military, the Senate and people, and all the different groups living in the empire. By showing respect to the emperor, people were really saying they believed his rule was right and approved by the gods. This helped the emperor show respect for Rome’s old gods and customs.

Sometimes, after an emperor died, the Senate could decide he was so good that he became a god himself. This was called apotheosis. It was a big deal because it showed that the Senate thought the emperor was worthy. Living emperors could also connect themselves to these honored past rulers. As new leaders took power, they used this idea to strengthen their own rule and show they were better than earlier, less popular emperors. Over time, as Christianity grew, the old ways of honoring emperors and Rome’s gods changed. By the time of Theodosius I, Christianity became the official religion, and the old imperial cult was no longer practiced.

Background

Roman

For five centuries, the Roman Republic (509–27 BC) did not honor any historic figure or living person as a god. Rome’s legendary kings had ruled, but after they were removed, Romans could still honor Romulus, the city’s founder, as the god Quirinus, while keeping their freedom. Similarly, Rome’s ancestor-hero Aeneas was honored as Jupiter Indiges. Romans worshipped many gods and demi-gods who had once been human and believed all gods began as humans. However, Republican traditions (mos maiorum) were very careful to avoid acting like kings. The leaders who held important jobs and were part of the Senate did not see any human as naturally better than others. No citizen, living or dead, was officially called a god, but the honors given by the state—such as crowns, garlands, statues, thrones, and processions—were also fit for gods and had a divine feeling. When emperors later received state worship, it was done by a Senate decision, written like any other honor.

One of the highest honors was the triumph. When a general was called imperator by his soldiers, the Senate would decide whether to give him a triumph. This was a parade to the Capitol where the general showed his prisoners and treasures of war with his soldiers; by law, everyone was unarmed. The general rode in a chariot, carrying symbols of the gods, in a way that came from the ancient kings of Rome, and ended by giving his victory to Jupiter Capitolinus.

In private life, however, tradition said some humans should be treated almost like gods; respect was owed from family members to their leaders. Every head of household stood for the genius – the life-giving spirit and guard of his family – which others might honor and by which his family and slaves made promises; his wife had a juno. A client could call his leader “Jupiter on earth.” The dead, together and separately, were gods of the world below or after life (Manes).

A well-known family might claim divine support and almost divine respect for its leader. Death masks (imagines)) were made for all important Romans and shown in the atria of their homes; they were used to show their spirit at family funerals.

There are several stories of unofficial respect given to men seen as saviors, in military or politics. In Further Spain in the 70s BC, loyal Romans greeted the leader Metellus Pius as a savior for his work against the Lusitanian rebellion led by Sertorius. These celebrations were organized by the quaestor Gaius Urbinus, but were not acts of the state.

Greek

When the Romans started to control large parts of the Greek world, Rome’s main leaders there were given the same divine respect as Hellenistic rulers. This was a well-used way for Greek city-states to show they would obey and respect an outside power; such a respect tied the city to follow and honor the king as they followed and honored Apollo or any of the other gods.

The cities of Ionia honored the Spartan general Lysander, when he personally led Greece, right after the Peloponnesian War. There were similar cases of divine respect for humans in the same century. Clearchus, tyrant of Heraclea, dressed like Zeus and said he was a god; this did not stop the Heracleans from killing him. Isocrates said of Philip II of Macedon that after he took over the Persian Empire, there would be nothing left for him but to become a god; the city of Amphipolis, and a private group in Athens, honored him even without this taking over; he himself put up his statue, dressed as a god, as the thirteenth of the Twelve Olympians.

But it was Philip’s son Alexander the Great who made the divinity of kings normal among the Greeks. The Egyptians took him as Pharaoh, and therefore a god, after he drove the Persians out of Egypt; other lands took him as their traditional divine or almost-divine leader as he took them over. In 324 BC, he told the Greek cities they should also make him a god; they did so, with clear feeling, which did not stop them from rebelling when they heard of his death the next year.

His first followers, the Diadochi, gave gifts to Alexander, and made themselves gods even before they said they were kings; they put their own pictures on money, whereas the Greeks had always kept this for a god or for a sign of the city. When the Athenians worked with Demetrius Poliorcetes, eighteen years after Alexander was made a god, they let him stay in the Parthenon with Athena, and sang a song praising him as a present god who could hear them, as the other gods could.

Romans among the Greeks

The Roman leaders who took over the Greek world were placed into this tradition; games were started to honor Marcus Claudius Marcellus, when he took Sicily at the end of the Second Punic War, as the Olympian games were for Zeus; they went on for about one and a half centuries until another Roman leader ended them, to make space for his own honors. When Titus Quinctius Flamininus spread Roman power to Greece itself, temples were built for him and cities put his picture on their money; he called himself god-like (isotheos) in an writing at Delphi – but not in Latin, or at Rome. The Greeks also made a goddess Roma, who was honored with Flamininus (their shared respect is known from 195 BC); she would become a sign of ideal romanitas in the later Roman lands, and a lasting link, while a Marcellus or Flamininus might only hold power for a few years.

Respect and temples seem to have been regularly given by Greeks to their Roman leaders, with different reactions. Cicero turned down a temple offered by the city leaders of Roman Asia to his brother and himself, while the latter was leader, to avoid jealousy from other Romans; when Cicero himself was leader of Cilicia, he said he had taken no statues, places of respect, or carriages.

Intermediate forms

The Romans and the Greeks gave religious honor to and for human beings in ways that did not make the people gods; these made the first Greek apotheoses easier. Similar middle ways appeared as Augustus came close to official divinity.

The Greeks did not consider the dead to be gods, but they did honor them and give them gifts, using different ways than for the gods of Olympus. The Greeks called unusual dead people – founders of cities and the like – heroes; in the simplest way, Greek hero cult was the grave and the memories which any good Greek family gave their dead, but paid for by their City forever. Most heroes were figures from old stories, but some were from history. Leaders did not usually become heroes.

The Greeks also honored founders of cities while they were still living. This could also be used for men who did equally important things; during the time when Dion led in Syracuse, the Syracusans gave him “heroic respect” for ending the rulers, and did this again for Timoleon; these could also be called worshipping his good spirit (agathos daimon, agathodaemon; every Greek had an agathodaemon, and the Greek way of a toast was to offer to one’s agathodaemon). Timoleon was called savior; he started a place for Luck (Automatia) in his house; and his birthday, the celebration of his daimon, became a public holiday.

Other men might say they had divine help by having a friend among the gods; so Alcibiades may have had both Eros and Cybele as friends; and Clearchus of Heraclea said he was “son of Zeus”. Alexander said he had the help of Dionysus and other gods and heroes; he had a dinner at Bactra which mixed the toast to his agathos daimon and gifts to Dionysus, who was present within Alexander (and therefore the people toasted Alexander rather than the home and altar, as they would have done for a toast).

Finally, a man might, like Philip II, take some powers of godhood and not others. The first Attalid kings of Pergamum, were not gods, and supported a respect for Dionysus Cathegemon, as their ancestor; they put the picture of Philetaerus, the first ruler, on the money, rather than their own. Finally, like the Seleucids, they got a name priest, and put themselves on the money; but they still were not called gods before their deaths. Pergamum was usually allied with Rome, and this may have affected the later Roman way.

End of the Republic

In the last years of the Roman Republic, leaders often took on special powers. They held offices alone for many years, unlike the usual short terms. These leaders also received unusual honors. For example, Marius and Sulla, who were rivals, each started cities named after themselves. Sulla even had games held in his honor in Rome. Pompey was allowed to wear special clothes during games.

Leaders also claimed special ties to gods. Sulla said the goddess Venus Felix protected him, and Pompey said Venus favored him and built a temple to her. The first Roman leader to claim he was a god was Julius Caesar.

Divus Julius

Caesar had family ties to gods. He said his family came from Aeneas and Venus. As a young man, he was named a special priest of Jupiter. Later, he became the chief priest of Rome. When he won full control in 45 BC, he began to act more like a god. He wore special clothes usually saved for big victories and had statues made of him as a god. People called him "father of the country" and celebrated his birthday as a public holiday. After he was killed, many people still honored him as a god. The Senate later officially called him a god, and his heir, Octavian, held ceremonies to honor him as a god.

Caesar's heir

In 30–29 BC, people in Asia and Bithynia wanted to honor Octavian, later called Augustus, as their "deliverer" or "saviour." This put Octavian in a tricky spot, because he wanted to please people but also follow Roman traditions. He decided that people could worship him together with the goddess Roma at special places in Pergamum and Nicomedia. Roman citizens were not to worship the living emperor but could honor Roma and Julius Caesar at places in Ephesus and Nicaea.

In 29 BC, Octavian built a temple to his adoptive father, Julius Caesar, where Caesar was cremated. This honored Caesar as a divine figure of the Roman state. Octavian also brought peace with the gods and helped rebuild Rome, earning the title Augustus in 27 BC.

The Imperial succession

Augustus prepared his adopted son Tiberius to be the next leader. When Augustus died, the Senate voted to give him divine status. His body had a grand funeral, and his spirit was said to join the gods. His remains were placed in the Imperial Mausoleum.

After Augustus, only honors connected to the Imperial family were given to Roman leaders. The Senate voted Tiberius as leader because of his "proven merit in office" and gave him the title Augustus.

Tiberius became emperor but seemed unwilling. He was a capable leader but not as energetic or charming as Augustus. Roman historians said he was serious and distrustful. He encouraged honors for his father but not for himself. In 26 AD, he allowed one temple in Smyrna for himself and the spirit of the Senate. Eleven cities had wanted this honor. Because Tiberius did not have much personal influence, the Praetorian Guard gained more power.

In 31 AD, the leader of the Praetorian Guard, Sejanus, was blamed for the death of Tiberius' son and was executed. After Tiberius died, the Senate and his heir Caligula decided not to make him divine.

Caligula's rule showed problems with the idea of a leader who was also a god. The Senate had to define his role, but the rites for the living emperor already gave him unlimited powers. Caligula did not show the respect expected of a leader. He took the idea of being a god very seriously. After Caligula's death, his sister Drusilla's deification was allowed to fade.

Claudius became leader after Caligula. He was chosen by the Praetorian Guard and paid the military to support him. The Senate had to agree, even though they were insulted. Claudius did not want any cult for himself. This refusal may have insulted the Senate and people in the provinces. He also promoted his friends to high positions.

It is thought that Claudius allowed one temple for his cult in Britain after winning there. The temple was in Camulodunum (modern Colchester). However, it is unlikely that he was worshipped as a living god there. Claudius died in 54 AD and was made divine by his adopted son and successor Nero.

Nero allowed Claudius' cult to end and built his Golden House over the unfinished temple. Nero enjoyed luxury and art and allowed the cult of his own spirit. He was popular in the Eastern provinces but not liked by the Senate. He was overthrown in a military coup.

Imperial crisis and the Dominate

The end of the Severan dynasty brought big changes to the Roman Empire. With problems like money losing value quickly and health issues, different leaders from the provinces fought for power. Many emperors didn’t even visit Rome, and their ties to the Senate were weak. Without strong leadership, nearby lands began to attack.

During this time, leaders took resources from temples to pay their armies, which upset many people. One leader, Philip the Arab, honored his father as a divine figure and brought back the body of a young leader to Rome for a special ceremony. Another leader, Decius, required everyone to make offerings to Rome’s traditional gods or face serious trouble. Only Jewish people were allowed to follow their own traditions. Later, Valerian and his son Gallienus worked to bring back traditional Roman beliefs and values.

Diocletian divided the Empire into Western and Eastern parts, each with a senior and junior emperor. He focused on keeping order and harmony, and his rule included special ceremonies and titles that showed respect for the emperor as a divine figure. These ideas were based on older Roman and Greek thoughts about leadership and the gods.

Context and precedents

The rule of Augustus was seen as a way to bring back order and tradition. People showed respect to the leader, called the princeps, by honoring his good behavior through a practice called genius cult. Good emperors did not want to be treated as gods while alive, but they did accept simpler respect. Later emperors sometimes wanted to be treated like gods.

Divus, deus and the numen

When an emperor died, they could be named a divus, a kind of divine ancestor. This needed approval from Rome's leaders. The divus was thought to live among the gods but was not as powerful as the main gods. The idea of a living emperor having divine power was very rare. Over time, some emperors were openly called divine while still alive.

Sacrificium

See also: Religion in ancient Rome § Sacrifice

Making offerings to gods was important in Roman life. People made these offerings to show they cared about the community. Leaders made special offerings on important days for the emperor and his family. In some places, people made offerings to the living emperor’s spirit, called his genius.

Augury, ira deorum and pax deorum

Main article: Augur

Leaders in Rome asked for guidance from the gods before making big decisions. They watched for signs in nature. This practice was important and helped keep balance and peace, called pax deorum.

Genius and household cults

The mos maiorum established the authority of the family leader, or pater familias. His family, including slaves, showed respect to his genius.

The genius was like a special spirit inside a person. Families showed respect to this spirit every day. When Augustus became a top leader, he connected his family’s traditions to the state’s rituals. He also supported local festivals to strengthen community ties.

Role in the military

Roman soldiers showed respect to the emperor and his family in special ways. They kept images of the emperor in their camps and made offerings on important days. Over time, soldiers also followed other beliefs.

Altars, temples and priesthoods

An imperial cult temple was known as a caesareum (Latin) or sebasteion (Greek). Leaders and special priests took care of the rituals for the emperor and his family. They made sure images and statues were used in ceremonies. They also organized games and events to honor the emperor.

Saviours and monotheists

Some Greek thinkers believed the world needed a saviour to bring peace. They saw Augustus as this kind of leader. Even though the imperial cult included many beliefs, it sometimes faced questions from people who followed only one god. Jews and early Christians had their own ways to show respect without treating the emperor as a god.

The imperial cult and Christianity

For ancient Romans, showing respect through special ceremonies was a way to show loyalty to the empire and its traditions. Not doing this was seen as a betrayal. Christians, however, saw these ceremonies as not true worship.

When Constantine I became leader, he supported the Christian church and changed many imperial practices. Though he was not baptized, he used symbols of Christianity and ended some old ceremonies, but he still treated himself almost like a god. His nephew Julian tried to bring back older Roman ways but his changes did not last.

Later leaders like Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of the empire. Even after the western part of the empire ended, leaders in the eastern part continued to rule with a sense of sacred power. Ceremonies of welcome and respect for the emperor's image influenced Christian practices and icons in the eastern church.

Historical evaluations

The Roman imperial cult was sometimes thought to be different from old Roman values. Some people believed it was just a way to show support for the emperor. But it was really connected to old Roman religious traditions, like respecting important people and ancestors. It was also tied to ideas from the eastern parts of the empire.

Historians still discuss what the imperial cult meant. Some thought it was a foreign idea that didn’t fit well with Roman culture. Others, including modern historians, see it as a natural part of Roman religion and daily life. The cult helped bring people together across the empire and celebrated Rome's power and importance. It was linked to everyday ceremonies and special events, and many people felt it was important. As the empire changed, the cult also changed, adapting to new religious ideas while still being part of Roman society.